As temperatures are rising, and winter winds are finally gone, BUBBLE 2 has successfully performed its system test – a critical milestone in the launch preparations. During the 2.5 hour long test run, every functionality such as a strong radio down link connection, battery performance and reliable data recording was tested, and no issues were found. Additionally, the team took the opportunity to work on final launch preparations. A final launch date is yet to be chosen and will be selected quite spontaneous as the launch is dependent on good weather and a promising flight track prediction – however, the team is looking for a launch in June 2021.
BUBBLE is the very own high-altitude program and balloon of the Small Satellite Student Society of the University of Stuttgart. BUBBLE 2 is, similar to the flight of BUBBLE 1, equipped with a sky brightness sensor which is an experiment performed in cooperation with the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart. The high altitude balloon will lift a 2 kg gondola carrying the experiment to a maximum altitude of approximately 35,000 m where the balloon will burst and the gondola starts to descend safely on a parachute. The BUBBLE team on the ground will receive radio transmissions from the balloon to localize and recover the gondola after landing.